Combined display and vending machine



Nov. 26, 1929. R. c. HARDMAN 1,737,499

COMBINED DISPDA Y' AN D (ENDING MACHINE Filed June 10, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet l Ill WITNESSES INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Nov. 26, 1929. R. c. HARDMAN 1,737,499

COMBINED DISPLAY AND VENDING MACHINE Filed June 10, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Nov. 26, 1929. R. c. HARDMAN COMBINED DISPLAY AND VENDING MACHINE Fi led June 10, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 ATTORNEYS Nov. 26, 1929.- R. c. HARDMAN COMBINED DISPLAY AND VENDING MACHINE Filed June 10, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 (sex INVENTOR iaffifirdmav,

ATTORNEYS Nov. 26, 1929. c, HARDMAN 1,737,499

COMBINED DISPLAY AND VENDING MACHINE Filed June 10, 1925 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 WITNESSES INVENTOR R, l ardmv,

BY W

ATTORNEYS Patented 26,

TENT caries ROBERT CLAY HARDMAN, OF PORTLAND, OREGON COMBINED DISPLAY AND VENDING.- MACHINE Application filed. June 10, 1925.

This invention relates to a combined dis play and coin operated vending machine and has for its objectto provioe a machine of this character which prominently and attractively displays the merchandise which it handles, which is adapted to handle a wide variety of merchandise and yet permit the selection of any particular article by the purchaser and which is so constructed and organized that the articles selected will be automatically dispensed from the machine when a coin of proper denomination is dropped into the machine.-

Another object resides in the provision of a machine of this character which prevents the operation of t 1e coin controlled means, by smaller coins than those intended to operate the machine and which has embodied therein a device designed to expose and discourage the use of slugs by plainly exposing the slugs to view as soon as they are dropped into the machine.

A further object resides in the provision of amachine having these advantages and capacities and wherein deposit of a coin in the coin slot is prevented until the selected article is positioned and ready to be dispensed.

A still further object resides in the provision of a machine of the character specified and which is of simple and durable construe ti-on, reliable and effective in operation, and easy and comparatively inexpensive to manu facture.

Other objects and advantages reside in certain novel features of the construct-ion, ar-

rangement and combination of parts which will be hereinafter more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective View showing one embodiment of the invention,

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view partly in side elevation and partly in section and showing the operating parts of the machine, the casing and all except one of the article holding trays as well as other parts being omitted for the sake of clearness and simplicity in illustration,

Serial No. 36,199.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the arrangement shown in Figure 2,

Figures 4 and 5 are fragmentary views in side elevation and plan respectively illustrating the manner in which the article supporting trays are mounted and assembled,

Figure 6 is a detail view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical section showing the coin operated release lever,

Figure 7 is a view looking toward the 69 right hand side of Figure 6, parts being shown in section for the sake of illustration,

Figure 8 is a fragmentary View partly in vertical section and partly in side elevation and showing how the trays operate the barriers of the transparent coin guide,

Figure 9 is a detail perspective view of one of the article supporting trays,

Figure 10 is a View in section on line 1010 of Fig. 9,

Figure 11 is a diagrammatic view showing one phase of the operation of the blocking arrangement provided for the coin slot,

Figure 12 is a View similar to Fig. 11 showing another phase of this operation,

Figure 13 is a detail perspective view illustrating the coin slot and its blocking lever, and

Figure 14 is a similar view of one of the locking levers provided for the trays.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 designates .generally a casing which may be supported in any suitable manner as by means of legs 2. The casing has a suit-able framing 3, a bottom 4, a glass top 5 and glass walls or panes 6 in its sides. In this wall practically all of the upper structure is trans- I parent so that the interior of the casing while inaccessible is exposed to full and plain view. Of course a door equipped with a suitable lock is provided so that authorized persons I may have access to the inside of the casing. A. bearing block 10 (Fig. 2) is fixed to the center of the bottom of the casing and a Vertical shaft 11 is fixed to the center of the block 10 and has a cross piece or a spider 12 at its upper end. The arms of the cross piece or spider 12 are received and suitably secured in notches 13 provided in the under side of a cylindrical body 14 of a stationary frame designated generally at 15 and also including a circular top plate 16 having a depending flange 17 at its periphery.

A rotatable table 20 of annular form is provided and has a hub 21 in the opening of which the shaft 11 is fitted. The underside of the hub 21 has a suitable l caring on the block 10.

A plurality of individual. article supporting trays designated generally at are provided on the table and a separator-end individual mounting 23 on the table is provided for each tray. The structure and assembly of the trays are shown to ac vantage in Figures 4, 5" 9 and 10. Each tray is constructed of suitably finished sheet metal or other material and comprises a fiat bottom 24 a relatively large flange 25 along one edge and a relatively short flange 26 along its other edge. The 25 inclines JWardly and outwardly from its juncture with the bottom 24 and also is inclined with respect to the longitudinal axis of the tray, the latter inclination counteracting th edect of centrifugal force transmitted to the articles on the trays when the Jrays are moved in a circle in a manner to be presently described, The

trays are assembled in circular formation on the table (each tray extending radially of the table) with the large flange of one tray overlying the short flange of the next adjacent tray. This arrangement enables agreat many trays to be provided on the table and materially increases the capacity of the machine. The outer large end of each tray is open while the inner end of each tray is closed by a vertical lug 27 having a base 28 clamped between flanges 29 formed on an inner extension 30 of the tray. The flanges 29 also hold an operating arm 31 between for in bearing pieces 34 fastened to the sides 41 are radially alined.

of lug 00 carried by the base 36 of its mounting; Due to the inclined axis of swing of each tray any tray may swing withoutits flanges engaging the other tray and it is this inclination of the tray axes that makes the overlying or overlapping arrangement possible. V p

The base 36 of each mounting has a notch 37 at its inner end 5) and a socket 38 on its underside adjacent its outer end (see Fig. 8). A series of inner pins 39 is provided and the pins 39 have an annular plate 40 se cured to their upper ends. An outer series of pins 41 is also provided and the pins 39 and The base of each mounting has its inner end fitted under the plate 40 and one of the pins 39 engaged in its notch and also has the radially alined pin 41 engaged in its socket 38 whereby each mounting is securely though removably fixed to the table.

A separate locking lever 42 is provided for each tray 22 and each lever 42 is fulcrumed as at 43 on plates 44 carried by the base 36 of the mounting of its tray.

The trays 22 are proportioned to take the position shown in Figure 2 that is an approximately horizontal position and the trays are held in such position by virtue of the engagement of the arms 31 of the trays in notches 45 of the levers 42, The embodimentof the invention shown in the accompanying drawings is designed for use in displaying and vending confections such as chocolate bars, chewing gum and the like and the weight of such articles tends to swing the trays to discharging position (see Fig. 8) butuntil the device is operated in aproper manner as will hereinafter appear, the locking levers 42 prevent this movement of the trays and hold the trays in horizontal position. The locking levers are formed and fulcrumed to assume the position shown in Figs. 2 and 8. 7

Coin controlled mechanism is provided for releasing the lovers 42 and this mechanism includes a single release lever 46 fulcrumed as at 47 on a bracket 48 provided on the cylindrical body portion 14 of the stationary frame. The lower end of the lever 46 has a pointed lug 49 engageable with the lower end of the lock lever operatively related thereto to kick such lock lever out of engagement with its tray and permit the article in such tray to slide therefrom into a delivery chute 50 leading through the bottom and one wall of the casing to an external delivery trough 51. The chute 50 and trough 51 constitute the delivery means of the tray.

When any tray 22 is radially aligned with, that is, operatively related to the release lever 46, it is also properly alined with the delivery means and in order to permit the purchaser to select any article or thecontents ofany tray, manually operablemeans 1s provlded for turning the table to aline any tray with the release lever and the delivery means and comprises a shaft 52 rotatahly fitted in bearings 53 provided on the bottom of the casing and having an external crank 54 whereby it may be turned. The crank 54 is weighted so that its handle 55 is biased to the position shown in Figure 1 in which position a tray 22 is properly alined with the delivery means and the release lever. A worm 56 is fixed on the shaft 52 and meshes with a worm wheel 57 fixed on the hub 21 of the rotatable table 20 The worm gearing is designed to move the table 20 an angular distance equal to the angular extent of a tray 22 for each complete 1 revolution of the shaft 52 and this feature together with the biasing of the shaft 52 facilitates alinement of any tray 22 with the release lever and delivery means.

The coin operated mechanism for releasing the levers 42 includes in addition to the release lever 46, a plate 58 mounted on the casing 1 (the plate having bifurcated edges 59 for spanning the edges of an opening provided therefor in one of the walls of the casing) and having a coin slot 60 inclined from the vertical. A similarly inclined coin way 61 leads from the coin slot 60 to the upper end of the release lever 46, the coin way extending through a housing 62 mounted on the stationary frame and extending around the upper end of the lever 46. As shown in Figure 13 the coin way 61 has an opening 63 in one side through which (due to the inclination of the coin way) coins of a smaller size than those intended to operate the machine fall. The coins falling through opening 63 fall into the underlying chute 50 and thence into the trough 51 or in other words are re turned to the person depositing same. Coins of proper denomination are constrained to travel down through the coin way by the action of a depending retaining flange 64.

The upper end of the lever 46 is constructed and located to receive the coin as it falls from the coin way and is designed to be actuated by the coin and then pass it on to a fraud exposing and discouraging device designated generally at 65 from where it eventually passes into a coin receptacle 66. In carrying out this pin-pose the upper end of the release lever 46 is made up of a pair of spaced plates 6'? between the upper portion of one side of which a cross plate 68 extends. The lower portion of the plate 68 is inturned as at 69 and the side plates 6'? have inwardly struck lips 70 so that the coin when falling from the coin way will, by virtue of its impact against the cross plate (38 and its inturned portion 69, swing the release lever through an operative movement and will thereafter, by virtue of the action of the side plates 67 and the lips 70, be delivered to a coin guide 71. Continuous with the coin guide 71 is a transparent coin guide 7 2 made up of spaced glass plates 73. The transparent coin guide 72 together with a pa r of vertically and horizontally spaced barriers 74 and 74 mounted on a pivoted frame 75 constitute the major elements of a fraud exposing and discouraging device which exposes to full and plain view any slugs or spurious coins as soon as they are placed in the machine and for a considerable time thereafter. The purpose of the barriers is to control and retard the passage of the coins through the guide 7 2 so that full opp rtunity is had to observe any slugs that may be inserted. The barriers 4 and 74 alternately coact with the coins, the barrier 74 normally engaging the end coin adjacent the receptacle 6 and the barrier 74 engaging the coin next to the end coin whenever a new coin is deposited in and operates the machine so that the same number of coins are retained in the guide 72 at all times. The

trough where it is available to the frame 75 comprises a pair of spaced bars '25 and the barriers 7 4 and 74 respectively comprise a straight transverse bar and a U-SllELPGCl transverse bar extending between the bars of the frame 7 5 at one end thereof as shown in Figure 3. At the other end of the frame 7 5 a plate is secured and has a downwardly inclined portion 81 with which the arms 31 of the trays 22 are engageable when the tray swings down to discharge position as shown in Figure 8.

Means is provided to prevent the deposit of coins in the coin slot unless a tray is properly alined with the delivery means and with the release lever and comprises a blocking lever designated generall at 85 fulcrumed as at 85 to the plate 58 and having a linger 86 adapted to block the coin slot in one position and to be withdrawn from the same in another position. A weight 8! biases the lever 85 to a position wherein its finger 86 blocks the coin slot. The lever 85 has an arm 88 connected by a wire or flexible element 89 to a control lever 90 fulcrumed on the frame and having a heavy roller 92 cooperable with a collar 93 having a notch 94 therein. The collar 93 is fixed on the shaft 52 and has its notch 94 located to receive the roller when any tray is properly alined with its delivery means. The weight of the arm' 88, wire 89, lever 90 and roller 92 is greater than the weight which biases the blocking lever to a position wherein its finger blocks the coin slot so that whenever the notch receives the roller 92 the coin slot is unobstructed.

In operation the purchaser has a plain and full view of all of the articles in the machine, and he may select the article which he desires by turning thev crank handle 55 to aline the tray containing such article with a stop mark coincident with the delivery means and with the release lever. Proper alinement of the trays with the delivery means and release lever is easily had due to the action of the weighted crank 54. In the event of failure to secure the proper alinement the finger 86 prevents deposit of the coin in the coin slot. However when proper alinement is had, and a coin of proper size deposited in the slot 60, the release lever swings about its fulcrum, releases the lock lever of the alined tray to permit the weight of the article in the tray to swing the tray downwardly as illustrated in Fig. 8. The article then slides through the outer open end of the tray into the dis charge chute, and thence into the delivery purchaser. The coin immediately after operating the machine is plainly exposed to view in the transparent guide, so that if a slug has been used, this fact is apparent to the proprietor of the store or to persons around the machine. Before the machine is set for operation, a number of coins are placed in the transparent guide so that the coins deposited by purchasers will be held in the guide for a certain length of time.

I claim 1. In a machine of the character described, a casing having a transparent portion, delivery means associated with the casing, a rotatable table within the casing, a plurality of individual article supporting trays mounted on the table, a manually operable shaft, motion transmission means between the shaft and table whereby the shaft may be turned to selectively aline the trays with the delivery means, mechanism comprising a coin controlled loch lever for governing the discharge of the articles from each of the trays to the delivery means, and means controlled from the shaft for preventing the actuation of said discharge governing mechanism until an individual article supporting tray is properly alined with the delivery means.

2. In a machine of the character described, a casing having a transparent portion, delivery means associated with the casing, a rotatable tablewithin the casing, a plurality of individual article supporting trays pivotally mounted on said table, a lock lever for each tray, a single coin operated release lever, and means for turning the table to selectively aline the trays with the delivery means, the lock lever of the tray alined with the delivery means being operatively related to the coin operated release lever.

3. In a machine of the character described, a casing, delivery means associated with the casing, a stationary frame in the casing, a rotatable table mounted on the frame, a plurality of individual article supporting trays pivotally mounted on said table, a lock lever for each tray, said lock levers also being mounted on the table, a single release lever mounted on the stationary frame, a coin slot in the casing, a coin way leading from the slot to the release lever, and means for turning the table to selectively aline the trays with the delivery means, the lock lever of the tray alined with the delivery means being operatively related to the release lever.

i. In a machine of the character described, a casing, delivery means associated with the casing, a stationary frame in the casing, a rotatable table mounted on the frame, a plurality of individual article supporting trays pivotally mounted'on the table, a lock lever for each tray, a single release lever mounted on the stationary frame, a coin-way leading to the release lever, a manually operable shaft, motion transmission means between the shaft and table whereby the shaft may be turned to selectively aline the trays with the delivery means, and means for preventing deposit of a coin until an individual article supporting tray is properly aline-d with the delivery means and comprising a weighted locking lever shiftable to a position to block the coin-way or to a position away from such coin-way, a controlling lever connected to the blocking lever and having a roller thereon, and a notched collar fixed 011 said manually operable shaft and cooperable with the roller of the controlling lever.

5. In a machine of the character described, a rotatable table, a plurality of individual article supporting trays, a removable mounting for pivotally supporting each tray on the table, a lock lever for each tray, each lock lever being carried by the mounting of its tray, and a single coin operated release lever selectively cooperable with the lock levers.

6. In a machine of the character described, a rotatable table, a plurality of individual article supporting trays, a removable mounting for pivotally supporting each tray on the table, readily releasable securing means for the mountings including inner and outer pins, each mounting having a notch'receiving an inner pin and a socket receiving an outer pin, a lock lever for each tray, each lock lever being carried by the mounting of its tray, and a sin le coin operated release lever selectively cooperable with the lock levers.

7. In a machine of the character described, acasing having transparent portions, a stationary frame in the casing, a rotatable table within the casing, delivery means associated with the casing, a plurality of individual article supporting trays arranged in circular series on the table and partially overlapping each other, means for mounting the trays for swinging movement about an inclined axis, a separate lock lever associated with each tray, a single coin operative release lever selectively cooperable with the lock levers, and means for turning the table to selectively aline the trays and their lock levers with the delivery means and the release lever.

8. In a vending machine, a turn table, a plurality of trays pivoted thereto, a pivoted latch element normally engaged with one end of the trays to retain the latch in a horizontal position, means for rotating the turn table to successively dispose the trays in a predetermined position, and means for successively disengaging the latch elements from the trays to permit the latter to successively assume an angular position to allow articles carried thereby to gravitate therefrom.

9. In a vending machine, a turn table, a plurality of normally horizontally disposed trays pivotally supported intermediate their ends, means for rotating the turn table to suecessively dispose the trays in a predetermined position, a latch element cooperating with each tray in causing the same to assume such horizontal position and coin controlled means for causing the trays to successively assume an angular position to allow articles carried thereby to gravitate therefrom.

10. In a vending machine, a turn table, a plurality of normally horizontally disposed pivoted trays, a latch element normally engaged With each tray, means for r0- tating the turn table to successively dispose the trays in a predeterminel position, and coin controlled means for successively disengaging the latch elements from the trays to permit the latter to tilt and thereby cause their contents to gravitate therefrom.

11. In a vending machine, a turn table, a plurality of normally horizontally disposed pivoted trays, a latch element normally engaged with each tray, means for rotating the turn table to successively dispose the trays in a predetermined position, and a coin actuated release lever operable to singly disengage the latch elements from the trays.

12. In a vending machine, a turn table, a plurality of normally horizontally disposed pivoted trays, a latch element normally engaged With each tray, means for rotating the turn table to successively dispose the trays in a predetermined position, a coin actuated release lever operable to singly disengage the latch elements from the trays, means for holding a plurality of coins, and means for successively releasing each of the coins incident to the tilting of the trays.

18. In a vending machine, a casing, a turn table mounted therein, a plurality of radially disposed normally horizontal trays pivoted thereon, a latch element normally engaging one end of each oi the trays, means for rotating the turn table to successively dispose the trays in a predetermined position, and a coin actuated release lever with Which the latch elements successively register, the release lever being moved into engagement With the registering latch element to disengage the same from its tray upon engagement of the release lever by a predetermined coin.

14. In a vending machine, a turn table, a plurality of normally horizontally disposed substantially channel-shaped trays each having a relatively Wide inclined side Wall against which an article of merchandise rests, a latch element normally engaged with each tray, means for rotating the turn table to successively dispose the trays in a predetermined position, and a coin actuated means operable to singly disengage the latch element from the trays.

ROBERT CLAY HARDMAN. 

